Sachin Tendulkar returns to ODI squad, Pathan recalled

Sachin Tendulkar was on Thursday named in India's one-day cricket squad for the next two matches against England, marking the champion batsman's return to one-day fold after a gap of eight months.

Baroda paceman Irfan Pathan was also included in the squad while fellow pacer Rudra Prasad Singh and Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay, who were in the team for the first three matches of the seven match series, have been left out.

The national selection committee, headed by former captain Krishnamachari Srikkanth, met soon after the completion of third match here and decided to make just two changes in the 15-member squad.

Tendulkar, who had played his last one-dayer against Australia in Brisbane in March this year, had been rested for the first three matches after having played in all the four Tests against Australia recently.

Irfan Pathan has been rewarded with a berth in the ODI sqaud for his consistent performance in domestic cricket in the last few months.

The Baroda cricketer, once a regular member of the squad, had last played a ODI game against Sri Lanka in August.

Pathan's inclusion came at the expense of R P Singh who got to play the first two matches mainly because of Ishant Sharma's injury. R P Singh could not make much of an impact in both the matches.

Murali Vijay, the surprise inclusion in the ODI squad after making his Test debut against Australia in Nagpur, did not get to play a single match and had to make way for the in-form Tendulkar.

The fourth match of the series will be played in Bangalore on Sunday while Cuttack will host the fifth match on November 26. India are currently leading the seven match series 3-0.

The national selectors will meet again in Cuttack to pick the team for the last two one-dayers.

Although the selectors were supposed to announce the team for the remaining four matches of the series, they chose to name the squad for the next two matches.

In case India manage to clinch the series in the next two matches, the selectors may probably give rest to some of the senior players and try out a few youngsters in their place.

The team:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel, Virat Kohli, Pragyan Ojha, Irfan Pathan.